Category Archives: City Politics

How the STCA 419 homes development passed concurrency – after failing it for 9 months

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By Miki Mullor
Editor 

Aug. 19. 2019: Town Center developer STCA last week received two traffic concurrency certificates that clear the way for 419 new homes and 82,000 square feet of retail space on the southeast corner of SE4th and 222nd Ave. SE.

Three members of the council, staff and STCA believed its Town Center project would not pass concurrency testing as a result of the new concurrency standard adopted earlier this year by a split City Council. Indeed, unofficial test runs over nine months indicated this was the case.

Yet, last week, city staff ran an official test and STCA Phase I passed concurrency, with no improvements to the roads.

How was this possible?

This article unpacks and explains the details behind the approval and raises serious questions. It is unusually long and reads best on a desktop.

Mayor Christie Malchow and Deputy Mayor Karen Moran called a Special Council Meeting to discuss the issues with staff.

The Special Council Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug 20, at 4pm at City Hall. 

Alternative ways to watch:

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2019 Election: Candidates Speak in First Public Forum

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

Four Sammamish City Council candidates participated in a first candidate forum out of a few planned this election season.

The forum, held at the Sammamish Library on Sunday, August 11, was organized and moderated by the South Asian American Together (SAAT-WA) organization. The forum also included Issaquah candidates.

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BREAKING NEWS: City Issues STCA Phase I a Concurrency Certificate for 419 Homes in City Center

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

The City of Sammamish announced today that two STCA projects for the
Town Center development have passed their concurrency tests and that Certificates of Concurrency have been issued for 419 homes and 82,000 sq/ft of commercial space.

As we reported, until recently, STCA Phase I was deemed to fail concurrency. On May 23, Council Members Pam Stuart, Jason Ritchie and Ramiro Valderrama unsuccessfully moved to exclude the Town Center area, and with it STCA, from the concurrency failure on Sahalee way.

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Valderrama now supports Sahalee Way project he once called lipstick on a hippo

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By Scott Hamilton

Commentary

July 29, 2019: The Sahalee Way project Sammamish City Council Member Ramiro Valderrama now advocates approving is the same ones he labeled “lipstick on a pig” and “lipstick on a hippo” in January 2017.

Ramiro Valderrama

Valderrama opposed the 2015 plan, comparing with a proposed set of projects for East Lake Sammamish Parkway in 2011 that he labeled the “most wasteful project in the city’s history.”

In posts on Facebook last week, Valderrama falsely claimed he supported the Sahalee Way project but only after a Transportation Management Plan was prepared.

Valderrama made his remarks on a Facebook thread commenting about the petition filed by former Mayor Don Gerend seeking to overturn a traffic concurrency adopted two months ago.

Development of the next phase of the Sammamish Town Center cannot pass the concurrency standard on Sahalee Way.

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BREAKING NEWS: Former Mayor, Don Gerend, sues the City over concurrency

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

July 24, 2019: Former City Council Mayor Don Gerend sued the City of Sammamish, challenging the new concurrency regulations.

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